Largest Point Spreads in NFL Playoff History

We received such a good response from an article we wrote a while back called Largest NFL Point Spreads Ever, that we decided to do one specifically focusing on post season NFL spreads.

In the article mentioned above, the largest NFL spread in history was 27 points, a game in which the Steelers would win and cover easily by a score of 42-0. The playoffs are made up of the top teams from the regular season. So, the spreads shouldn’t be very large, right? The short answer is yes, they aren’t as large as regular season spreads tend to be, BUT, there are some very large postseason NFL spreads. Here is a countdown for the top five largest spreads in NFL postseason history:

5. Cowboys -15 vs. Falcons (1978)
The Cowboys were a dominant force in the 1970’s and The Falcons were upstarts. Atlanta barely squeaked into the second round of the playoffs by edging out the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys were defending Super Bowl champs. The Falcons covered and the game it was a hard-fought and exciting contest. The final score was Dallas: 27 – Atlanta: 20

4. 49’ers -15.5 vs. Bears (1994)
The Bears were the fourth team in their division that year to make it into the playoffs that season and even beat division rival Minnesota Vikings in the wild-card round to go on to face the Niners. This San Francisco team starring Steve Young was destined for greater things however, and went on to route the Bears 44-15, easily covering the 15 points.

3. Vikings -16.5 vs. Cardinals (1998)
Minnesota was 15-1 in the regular season that year and featured a very prolific offense led by Randall Cunningham, Hall of Fame WR’s Randy Moss and Cris Carter, as well as Robert Smith at RB. The defense had future HoF John Randall. This was the Vikings year. Minnesota’s hopes would later be dashed by The Atlanta Falcons (of Dirty Bird era) but this game was a beat down: Minn: 41, Arz: 21

The top two largest post season spreads are actually Super Bowl Games.

2. Baltimore Colts -18 vs. the New York Jets (1968)
This was Super Bowl 3 and the NFC was still considered a far superior league. The upstart Jets came into the game as huge underdogs but “Broadway” Joe Namath guaranteed a win for his Jets. His guarantee became a reality as the Jets stunned the Colts 16-7.

1.  49’ers -19 vs. Chargers (1994)
The same Niners team mentioned above faced off against the Chargers who were having themselves a bit of a “Cinderella season”. Nobody picked the Chargers making it to the Super Bowl that year. But, they finished the 1994 regular season 11-5 and division champs behind the arm of Stan Humphries and the legs of Natrone Means. At LB was HoF LB Junior Seau. Would this be another huge Super Bowl upset? Nope. The Chargers were crushed right out of the gate and Steve Young threw for an NFL record 6 TD’s as the Niners won 49-26, covering the largest spread in postseason history and marking a day forever known as Black Sunday in NFL betting lore. The sportsbooks were swamped with 49’er action that Super Bowl.

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Also See: Largest Super Bowl Point Spreads Ever